


I'd Choose You

by xpacekid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Explicit Sexual Content, Gay Sex, M/M, Multi, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-22 09:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16595237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xpacekid/pseuds/xpacekid
Summary: In which Lance and Keith are college roommates that have drunk sex once and everything falls apart from then.In which Lance is insecure because he's been rejected his whole life but can't help falling in love again and again.In which Keith doesn't want to open up to anyone because everyone always leaves.In which they fall in love but are oblivious to each other's feelings.





	1. Last Night

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I'm sorry for the poor summary, I suck at those.  
> Hey, this is my first Klance fanfic ever, very much cliche, but I hope you enjoy it!  
> If there's anything I forgot to tag, please let me know! Also, I'm open to contructive critics and suggestions.  
> If you can please share my work, I'd be grateful, because I am not very known and I don't have many followers on twitter :(  
> Talking about twitter, please go follow me: @avantheros  
> English isn't my first language, so pardon me for any mistakes and feel free to correct me!
> 
> Anyways, I'm keeping this short. Klance college AU. Mostly fluff, but it'll have some sex midway. Contains minorly other ships (Hunay, Adashi, Romellura, KinkadexJames...).  
> Also, the title will make sense eventually.
> 
> Have a nice reading!

Keith woke up and the first thing he saw was freckles.

Then last night came all back to his mind.

On their freshman year of college, he and Lance McClain did not get along well – they argued 90% of the time and Lance found it very diverting for some reason to annoy him as best as he could. But things changed this year, when they were assigned roommates and for the first weeks wouldn’t even look at each other. Then Lance decided they had to be friends, and started to set things up for them to get along - that was Lance for you. And Keith thought that maybe it was working, because they acted like normal roommates now.

Last night, two months in the semester already, he had brought packages of booze and suggested (more like  _ ordered _ ) for Keith to drink with him. Keith would usually decline, because drinking wasn’t really his thing, but Lance didn’t seem alright – he was smiling and joking as usual, but he was doing so in a very awkward way, as if something was bothering him deep – and Keith couldn’t say no.

He was starting to find it really hard to say no to Lance at all.

He remembered they drank and drank and drank and said a bunch of silly and stupid things. They sat too close and all the alcohol was building a skinship that would normally not happen. And then... And then Keith was too drunk to look into Lance’s eyes and not want to kiss him. He remembered the taste of his tongue and how his hands felt on Lance’s burning skin, and how Lance’s hands felt on his hair, and that Lance was on his lap and whispering for them to go to the bed. He remembered, more clearly than he wanted to, Lance’s body under his own, and tangled sheets and skin to skin, and a drink induced sex.

_ Damn. _

Lance’s face was so close that Keith could see the flaws in his neatly done eyebrows. He looked so serene sleeping, so unlike his usual hurricane self, that Keith had to take a moment to watch.

_ Damn _ .

Keith wondered if maybe he could sneak out and hope that Lance wouldn’t remember a thing that happened, but before he could move the same eyes he stared so deeply last night opened.

His sleepy face only lasted a minute before he spotted Keith. Lance’s eye widened and he bursted out of the bed, crashing in the floor.

“What the hell,” he cursed.

Keith got away from the bed as well, keeping up his act as if he had just noticed it as well. But then he looked down and realized he was wearing no clothes.

_ Damn _ .

He grabbed one of the sheets and placed it over himself. Lance still wore a shocked face –  _ and _ no clothes, but some of sheets had fallen down over him in his ruckus to run.

“Did we...” Lance started to elaborate, looking around.

Keith’s brain was running a thousand miles per minute, trying to keep up with what was happening. What  _ had _ happened.

Having sex with his roommate was not on his plans. And he just couldn’t afford dealing with this right now. Not now when he and Lance were finally getting along and he was actually  _ having fun _ and not hating his life 100% of the time. Specially because Lance had a terrified look on his face that denounced that he didn’t want this at all.

“Let’s not talk about it,” Keith said without thinking.

“But...”

“Pretend nothing happened,” he continued, “We don’t even know if something  _ really _ happened.”

Lance made a frown, “Well,  _ my ass  _ is pretty sure of what happened.”

Keith took a step back and felt his cheeks burning red. He wished last night stopped coming back to his head, because remembering everything they did was making him no good.

“We’re not talking about it.” Keith settled and didn’t wait for an answer from Lance, instead just ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

 

##

 

Lance ran his hands a thousand times over his hair before calming down enough to think.

_ He and Keith had... _

He couldn’t think about it. There was no way he could even glimpse at the thought. Maybe Keith was right and they should just pretend nothing happened.

Yeah, that’d settle it.

That didn’t settle how sticky he was down there.

_ Don’t think about it. _

He got up and grabbed a change of clothes and then sat on his bed to wait for the bathroom. Keith at least had the decency of using his own bed for this.

_ He had woken up in Keith’s bed. _

Lance shook his head and reached for his phone. He wrote a text to Hunk and Pidge:

[ L: need to talk asap ]

The answer only took a minute to arrive.

[ P: we’ll be at Hunk’s. he’s baking us cookies :D ]

Lance’s head swayed a little with the thought of Hunk’s cookies.

The bathroom door opened. Keith walked out wearing just a towel to his waist. He still looked a bit panicked, and Lance tried not to look offended. He  _ knew _ no one would want to sleep with him, but he  _ at least  _ expected to get a look a little less disgusted from Keith.

Keith avoided his eyes and went for his drawer. Lance crossed the room to the bathroom in angry steps.

He had to pause when he spotted himself in the mirror.

His neck and chest and shoulders and mostly everything up his waist was trailed with hickeys’ marks and bites.

Lance really wanted to go back to the room and hit Keith’s head as hard as he could right now.

He grabbed the sink stall until his knuckles turned white and leaned in, closing his eyes. He couldn’t freak out. He had to focus. So what if it had been his first time? He’d have others. He’d get over it. It didn’t even mind because he didn’t remember a single thing. So it didn’t really count, did it?

He would be alright, he told himself.

He took in some hard breathes and when he looked up again to the mirror, he wore his best comeback smile.

He’d be alright.

Lance showered as quick and as best as he could, trying to scrub last night out of him. When he left the bathroom, Keith wasn’t in the room anymore and the bed was made as if no one had ever sat foot on it, least of all had sex.

_ Sex. With Keith. _

Lance tapped his own forehead to avert his thoughts and left the room.

Garrison University’s Sunday morning was just like any other place Sunday morning’s: lazy. The dorms were fraught with people crawling from one room to the other to do lazy things like drink hot cocoa or marathon a Netflix series. Looking through the stairs window, Lance could see the nearly empty streets and the sun flirting with midday. It was probably late for cookies, but Sunday mornings meant that everything was a little delayed.

Hunk’s room was two floors below Lance’s. They’d been roommates their freshman year and friends for their whole life, but Principal Alfor decided to move Lance in with Keith after one of their fights took a violent turn – they’d already talked about it and  _ both _ apologized. So now Hunk shared a room with Matt, Pidge’s big bro.

Pidge somehow managed to get a room all for herself, but Lance had the feeling that it was because no one else wanted to step foot into that place – he went once and never again. He couldn’t tell if it was Pidge or a goblin living in there.

Lance entered Hunk’s room to find the goblin thrown in the couch playing games at her phone. He heard noises from the kitchen and assumed Hunk was dealing with the promised cookies. He felt relieved when he noticed Matt wasn’t there, because Matt was best friend’s with Keith’s older brother, and he didn’t want any gossip going around.

“’Sup, guys.” Lance said, trying to sound enthusiastic and wearing the smile he practiced at the bathroom, pretty sure he was convincing everyone that he was just fine.

“Hey, Lance!” he heard Hunk yell from the kitchen. Pidge lifted her eyes from her phone for only a second and said: “Cut the bullshit, Lance. What’s wrong?”

Lance opened his mouth to protest, but he was actually meaning to talk to them, so instead he just sat on the floor across the coffee table and sighed. “Well, something happened last night.”

“Last night? Weren’t you drinking with Mullet or something like that?” Pidge raised her eyebrow, still focused on her game.

“Yeah... But, you see, we ended up drinking  _ too much _ and...”

Apparently that unfinished sentence was enough for Hunk to leave the kitchen wiping his hands on his yellow apron and for Pidge to put her phone away.

“Did you two had sex?”

Hunk’s jaw dropped and he raised a hand over his mouth. Lance shivered with the question. Pidge was just looking skeptically at him waiting for her answer.

“Well... Yes.”

Hunk’s surprised expression grew even wider and Pidge raised  _ both _ her eyebrows (which was the most surprised she ever got with anything) and fixed her glasses. “That’s unexpected.”

“It is, right?” Lance threw his hands in the air, “And he just said we shouldn’t talk about it.”

“Ouch, that’s harsh.” Hunk said, finally abandoning the exaggerated face to his normal self.

“Guys, I’m dying here.” He layed his head on the coffee table in dramatical defeat.

Pidge sat like a normal person and Hunk came take the seat next to her.

“Was that your first time?” Hunk asked, carefully.

“Yes.” Lance answered, the sound muffled by the table’s wood.

“Did you guys at least used protection?” Pidge being the only rational person in the room was obviously also the only one to remember such a thing.

“I have no idea.”

“Do you remember anything from how it went?” Hunk’s turn again.

Lance shook his head.

“And does he?”

That made Lance look up at Pidge’s big round glasses. She was still with her eyebrows raised, like solving a too much obvious math problem.

“Shit, I don’t know.”

They all stood in the silence for a moment, Lance in quiet suffering.

If Keith remembered what happened it made even more sense for him to want to forget. It must have been awful. Lance had never seen Keith dating anyone, but he was too hot to be a virgin. On the other hand, Lance’s furthest was kissing, and that only happened three times under drinking circumstances. The only logical answer was that his inexperienced situation had scared Keith away.

Lance couldn’t blame him.

“Well...” Hunk was the first one to break the silence, “If Keith doesn’t want to talk about it, then there isn’t much you can do. Just... If you don’t remember it then it doesn’t have to really count as a first time. One day you’ll meet someone nice and will have a real first time and this will feel like a distant memory.”

Hunk’s words were as warm as his cookies, but Lance was still pouting. He had no arguing to do this time tho.

“Now what you  _ really _ gotta do is check with the school nurse for a STD test.” Pidge said.

Lance laughed bitterly at that. “Haha, you bet I’m going to ask for a STD test with Keith’s  _ brother-in-law _ .”

Keith’s older brother, Shiro, a professor at their University, was married with the nurse, Adam.

“It’s not really a choice, Lance.” Pidge rolled her eyes, “You better find out now if something’s wrong.”

Lance looked at Hunk for backup, but Hunk just shrugged. “Sorry, buddy, but she’s right.”

Lance’s hands got cold just from the thought that something might be  _ wrong _ , tho he was pretty sure nothing was  _ wrong _ , but deep down he knew he had to check it anyways.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go see him tomorrow,” he said, at last.

A bell from the kitchen announced that the cookies were ready and Hunk ran to get them. Pidge and Lance licked their lips in antecipation. There was nothing in the world that Hunk’s cookies couldn’t heal, Lance thought.

But as he bit into the last cookie, Keith’s frown from this morning was all over his head again.


	2. No Feelings Allowed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was going on with him? Having a one night stand with his roommate was something he could live with, but having it hammered against his mind again and again, like it meant something... That was unbearable.
> 
> It couldn’t have meant something. It was Lance, dumb headed, flirting with half the campus, lame jokes-Lance. There was no way he could’ve had feelings for him... Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLOOOOOO
> 
> Thank you for all the positive feedback on the first chapter!!! This is making me really happy :)
> 
> Also, we fandom calling Shiro dad, when, let's be honest, he's a total mom.
> 
> Follow me on twitter thank you: @xpacekid
> 
> Have a nice read!

Keith managed to get as far as out of the dorm building before losing his shit again.

He couched next to the bricked outside wall and lit up a cigarette, taking deep and long breathes, his heart pounding into his chest.

_ Damn _ .

What was going on with him? Having a one night stand with his roommate was something he could live with, but having it hammered against his mind again and again, like it  _ meant _ something... That was unbearable.

It couldn’t have meant something. It was Lance, dumb headed, flirting with half the campus, lame jokes-Lance. There was no way he could’ve had  _ feelings _ for him... Right?

Last night was just pure physical attraction. And today’s nervousness was just because it was Lance and they had to see each other everyday and it was weird.

Yeah. That was it. For sure.

Someone crouched in front of him and called his name, and Keith had to lift his eyes from his wandering spot on the floor.

“Hm, Keith? Is everything okay?” Matt asked, frowning behind his big round glasses that matched his sister’s.

Keith shook his head. No, it wasn’t okay.

Matt nodded in comprehension, “Well, I’m heading to Shiro’s. Do you want a ride?”

“Yeah.” Keith said. Shiro would probably give him some soulful advice that Keith would dismiss instantly, but he needed someone to vent to and his older brother was the only person he trusted in the world.

Matt drove a really  _ really _ small car, that fit comfortably two people, but would look cramped up with three. Luckly, it was just the two of them, so Keith had enough space to stretch his legs. Matt turned on the radio and put on to play some really old music like Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Lauper. It was a weird mix of anything from the 80s, but Keith didn’t mind. He liked music generally and anything with quality was good for him.

“So... If you want to talk about it, I’m here to listen.” Matt said when they were crossing middle campus.

“Sorry, but I prefer not to.” Keith tried to sound the least offensive possible, but Matt was already used to Keith’s reserved way so he didn’t bother.

Shiro and Adam’s house was just outside of campus. They’d invited Keith to live with them instead of the dorms when he started college, but Keith knew better than to stay with a newly married couple.

Matt rang the bell and Adam opened the door a few seconds later. He looked messly tired, his eyes barely opening and his glasses out of place. His pajama shirt was open in the first few buttons, showing a trail of hickeys up to his neck.

Gosh, was  _ everyone _ having sex last night?

“Good morning, rise and shine.” Matt said jokingly, opening his arms as if waiting for a hug.

Adam was too slow to catch on the hug thing so he just stepped aside to let them in. “I haven’t had coffee yet” he said, which explained everything, because it was common knowledge that Adam didn’t function before three cups of coffee.

Unlike him, Shiro was a morning person and already had a full breakfast ready on the table. He smiled when he spotted Keith and put down the bowl of potatoes he was holding to hug him.

“Keith, it’s so good to see you, buddy. Glad you joined us.” Shiro crasped a hand at his shoulder after stepping away from the embrace. “Did you already eat?”

“No.”

“Okay, wait here while I set a place for you too.”

Shiro was tall and muscled and had half the students failing his class just to have personal tutoring with him, but at home he acted like a mom from the 20s serving food for her kids and lazy husband.

Emphasys on the  _ lazy husband _ , that was now dragging himself to an empty chair at the table. Matt sat as well, talking a whole lot and Adam didn’t seem to be listening to even half of it. After Shiro set a place for Keith, the brothers joined them as well.

The breakfast (brunch?) was filled with friendly conversation. As the mugs of coffee were empting, Adam started to look more like himself again, chatting lots about very boring scientific things. Keith refrained from it, only saying anything if he was directly addressed to, mainly because he wasn’t much of talking, but also because the subject was too nerdy for him to understand a single word of what they were saying.

When they finished, Matt and Adam were given the task to do the dishes and Keith dragged Shiro to the backyard so they could talk.

“So... Do you remember Lance?” Keith asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“McClain? Yeah, of course. A really nice guy, he is.” Shiro said.

Keith made a frown to that, because he remembered the beginning of this semester when Lance told him how lucky he was to have such a hot brother, and all Keith could do was look honestly disgusted because he could never picture Shiro as anything other than weird.

“Well, you know he’s my roommate this year and he brought some drinks last night and we drank but we ended up drinking  _ too much _ and next thing I knew we were having sex but I only remembered all that this morning when we woke up  _ in the same bed _ and I don’t think he remember anything but I told him that we shouldn’t talk about it but now I’m regretting because now I can’t stop  _ thinking _ about it.” Keith said all at once, too nervous to say it any other way.

Shiro stared at him with his jaw dropped for almost an entire minute.

“So you and Lance had sex?”

“ _ Yeah. _ ”

The older brother scrubbed the back of his head, thinking. “And well, did you like it?”

“ _ Terribly. _ ”

“Hm, and do you like him?”

Keith’s entire existence froze at that question.

Did he?

Less than an hour ago Keith had convinced himself that everything he was feeling right now was just nervousness.

But was it?

If he stopped to  _ really _ think about it, his heart did skip a beat every time Lance ran his hands through his hair when he was nervous; and he did stare too much at his freckles; and he was stunned that one time he caught Lance dancing in the kitchen while cooking the worst pancakes Keith had ever eaten in his life.

Okay, maybe he did like Lance.

_ Damn _ .

“It doesn’t matter,” he thought out loud, “Lance would never like me back.”

“Well, he did have sex with you.” Shiro stated.

“Yeah, but he was drunk. And he’s hitting in half the campus.”

“But how many people did you actually saw him  _ kiss _ ?”

It was truth. Lance would say pick up lines and make flirty moves, but he was all bark and no bite. Except that last night he had bit. And hard.

But Keith couldn’t get his hopes up. Lance was like some mythical fairy from a magical world, and Keith was... Just Keith. And “just Keith” couldn’t afford having feelings. He knew how these went. He knew very well how people would leave over and over again. He wasn’t going to risk his much fought peace of mind for a college crush.

“You know, eventually you’ll have to let someone in.” Shiro said, casually turning back to the house.

“Where?” Keith turned as well.

“Yourself.”

“Not gonna happen. I don’t need anyone.” he shook his head.

“A wise man once said that you only know what you really need when you find it.” Shiro stared at the sky, which instead of making him look reflexive just made him look dumb.

“You just read that on the internet.” Keith pointed the obvious.

“Shh, let me pretend I can give good advice,” he sounded offended.

Keith rolled his eyes and pushed Shiro back into the house. He  _ didn’t _ need anyone, and he was sure of that.

 

##

 

Coming back to his own room that night was the most awkward thing Lance had done in his entire college life – which had only been a year and two months, but you’d be surprised to see how much could be done in that short time.

Keith was sitting on the couch, flipping through some motorcycle magazines. He could just scroll at a website and find all the info he could possibly think of, but for some reason Keith preferred good old fashioned paper magazines.

Lance almost smiled at the scene, before noticing he was still standing by the door.

He tried to act as casual as possible. Keith had told him to pretend nothing happened, and after a whole day of strolling with his friends and clearing his mind, he intended to follow that request. He threw his hoodie into the closest armchair and went for the kitchen for a glass of water. On his way, he shot a glance at Keith and complimented him with a simple “Hey there, Mullet.”

Keith looked at him as if he had just realized he was in the room. “Hey.”

“So, how was you day?” Lance asked as he rummaged through the kitchen for his glass of water, finding it exactly where it was supposed to be. The good part about sharing a room with Keith was that he always organized everything, even if it was Lance who’d done the mess (which usually was the case, since Lance had zero sense of organization). Hunk was a perfectionist himself, but during their time as roommates, he used to make  _ Lance _ organize  _ his own mess _ . Outrageous.

“Nothing much,” he heard Keith’s answer, “Went over to Shiro’s for breakfast and ended up spending the rest of the day with them.”

“That seems cool,” Lance said, back turned to the living room (could it be called living room when there were no walls separating it from the beds and only a stall to secure the kitchen?). “I had the  _ most amazing _ cookies for breakfast. Hunk makes magic in that kitchen, I’m  _ sure _ , because there’s no way that’s human made. But we ended up going to the Mall for lunch, which was still delicious, but far from comparison to Hunk’s food. And then Pidge insisted in going to this electronic shop and there was this  _ gorgeous _ clerk that gave me her number. A wonderful day it was.”

Lance turned to give him a sassy smile, only to find Keith was looking at him while he talked, without everting his eyes not even once. His expression didn’t change much, but it was clear that he was paying attention.

That made Lance stumble back a little, because he was pretty much used to people spacing out in the middle of his lines. He knew he talked too much. He knew he  _ was _ too much. But Keith didn’t turn his gaze away until Lance shut up.

“Nice.” Keith said and waited to see if he had something else to say.

“Huh, I’m gonna make some pancakes.” Lance informed.

Keith made a frown that Lance did not understood, but then he just nodded and said, “I want mine with cheese.”

Lance was not really sure how his pancakes really tasted because he always poured a pound of honey on top of his, but he absolutely loved to cook them. Keith had eaten them once tho, and never said anything about them, so Lance assumed they were acceptable.

He sat on the coffee table with the plates after he finished, and Keith got down from the floor to sit across to him.

That made Lance’s thoughts crack a little, because he remembered they were sitting on this exact place last night, except that Lance had sat right next to Keith.

“You not eating it?” Keith asked, his mouth already full, and Lance had to come back from his wanders.

While they ate, Lance told him in more details about his day, just to fill in the awkward silence. Keith didn’t talk much, unless Lance was asking him something, and he kept his answers short, but he payed attention to Lance’s every word which made him a little bewildered.

But Keith was just being polite. He was sure of it.

 

##

 

_ Damn _ .

Keith knew his strategy was failing him miserably when Lance started talking and Keith couldn’t keep his eyes off him because he was so freaking beautiful. And those pancakes were tasting awful, but he couldn’t tell that to Lance when he so willingly had cooked dinner for both of them.

He didn’t think he’d last much with such a company.

_ Damn _ .


	3. Avoidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took him until Friday to find out Keith was avoiding him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. I had my finals last week and didn't have time to write.  
> But now I'm back!!!  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> credit to @leandroliveiro on twitter for Plaxum's nickname

The first person Lance saw after leaving his dorm on Monday morning was the last person he wanted to see right now, but that didn’t stop his heart from skipping a beat.

Allura walked the street towards him, smile on face, her long curls flying behind her, her dark skin like black marble reflecting the sun.

She looked beautiful.

She was beautiful. No one less than the most beautiful girl Lance had ever met - on Hunk’s girlfriend birthday party, dancing between pink balloons and looking like a princess. She was so nice to him that for a while he even thought that she might actually like him, until Saturday afternoon, when she confessed to Lance her biggest secret: she was in love with her best friend, Romelle.

Just another heartbreak for Lance’s collection. But the numbers didn’t stop him from mourning. Maybe he was always destined to be the friend, the sidekick, the clown. Maybe he wasn’t meant for main parts.

That was also the whole reason behind his idea of drinking with Keith Saturday night. He needed some booze into his system to wipe away his pain.

Not that it turned out as it was supposed to.

“Hello,  _ Lonce _ .” Allura said, wrapping her arms around his neck in a quick hug. She pulled back to look at him and her eyebrows furrowed. “Why are you wearing this when it’s so hot?”

He caught himself confused for a moment before remembering he was wearing a blue scarf. Lance knew it was weird to wear it in the middle of summer, and people were already shooting him reproving looks, but there was no way he’d let those hickey marks out in the open for everyone to see. That’d lead to questions, questions he didn’t feel like answering and he that he couldn’t answer either way.

“I was organizing some old drawers yesterday and there was a lot of dust.” Lance lied. “And we can’t have pretty me with a flu, can we?”

Allura giggled and shook her head in disbelief of his dumbness, “Well, alright. What class do you have now?”

“Italian,” he said. Lance had no idea what he wanted to graduate on, so when he entered college he just signed in for all the languages classes, that was something he enjoyed. He already knew Spanish from his home country and English from living most of his life in the USA.

“Oh, that’s far from me,” Allura gave him a sad smile, “But see you later this week?”

“Sure, sure.”

“Have a nice day!”

She walked away, leaving him a little more gloomy than he was before.

When he finished his classes, Lance went to the nurse room to fulfill his promise. The door was open and Adam was sitting crossed legged to his chair, looking into some student files. Adam and Shiro were like, the  _ hottest _ couple Lance had ever ran into, and totally relationship goals. Not that Lance could have any goal if he couldn’t manage himself to be in a relationship.

Adam smiled when he noticed Lance’s presence.

“Hi, Lance. How are you?” Adam asked, putting the papers away, “Take a seat.”

Lance sat on the chair across the nurse. “Well, I’m fine, you know, no broken toes this time, I promise.”

“Well, then what can I help you with?”

“Hm, can I, I mean, I’m sure I don’t need it or anything, because I’m pretty sure nothing’s  _ wrong _ , but you know, I gotta check because safety first, right? Tho I was too drunk to think about safety so I totally forgot that, but I’m sure nothing’s wrong.” Lance started to fidget nervously. “Can I have a STD test?”

Adam tried not to look surprised, Lance could tell, but he couldn’t hide his expression. Maybe Lance could dig a hole on the ground and hide there until his embarrassment went away.

“Hm, okay.” Adam finally spoke when he recovered from the shock, “You’ll have to come here fasting so I can collect your blood. 12 hours with no food or drinks, only water.”

“Alright.” Lance said and was quick to stand again. “Can I come any day this week?”

“Yeah, any day is fine.”

“Okay, cool, thanks, bye.” He ran to the door, but Adam called his name before he could leave. “Yes?” Lance turned around just enough to see the worried look on Adam’s face.

“Hm, why don’t you go see Coran?”

“The university counselor?” he made a frown.

“Yes. He may, huh, be able to help you? If you need anything.” Adam was obviously uncertain about what he was saying.

Lance waved the suggestion off. “Nah, I’m alright, don’t worry. I don’t need help.”

Adam shrugged and went back to his files. Lance got out as fast as he could.

When he went back to his dorm that night, Keith wasn’t there. Keith still wasn’t there when he ordered dinner, and didn’t arrive until it was time to go to bed, so they barely exchanged a few words.

The next day, he met his gang on the cafeteria for lunch. Hunk, Shay, Pidge, Matt, Allura, Romelle, Rolo, Nyma, Bubbles (her real name was Plaxum but for some unknown reason everyone called her Bubbles), Kinkade, James, Nadia and Ina. On the beginning of last year, it had been only Hunk, Pidge and Lance, but as the semesters went by, they were adding people to their group until they could barely fit one cafeteria table. With so many people, Lance kind of started to be feeling… Left out. Everyone had their dynamics, or were in a relationship, and Lance didn’t feel essential to any of these. He was just… There. And if someday he wasn’t there anymore, he didn’t think anyone would notice. But of course he never said that to anyone. Instead, he did what he was best at: pulling jokes and laughing until he convinced everyone, including himself, that things were okay.

After chatting with Romelle for one hour straight about the pros and cons of skydiving - not that either of them had even actually done it - Lance walked back to class with Rolo and Nyma. Rolo and Nyma were the most problematic couple in campus. They dated since high school, but they had three moods: making out, flirting with a thousand other people just to annoy each other (unfortunately, Lance had been a victim of  _ both _ ), or ignoring. Right now, they were on ignoring, which meant Lance was in a very awkward position.

“You going to our gig Friday, right?” Rolo asked, pointing at Lance.

“Count me in, buddy. You know I don’t miss a party.” Lance said.

“Well, someone should put your name on the list,” Rolo pointed at Nyma’s phone. He liked pointing.

“Lance, you should invite that handsome roommate of yours. Maybe he’ll attract some crowd, since their band members aren’t good enough for that.” Nyma suggested.

Ouch, they were starting the bickering.

“Oh, c’mon Nyma, you don’t  _ really _ think that, do you? I mean, they did sold out their last gig.”

“Not that our managers helped with  _ anything. _ ” Rolo frowned.

And, next minute they had stopped walking and were having a real fight in the middle of the sidewalk. Lance considered stepping in for a moment, but them decided they were better off without him, and continued to walk for his next class.

 

##

 

On Wednesday, he went back to Adam’s for his blood test. He said he’d email him the results.

It took him until Friday to find out Keith was avoiding him.

He was getting ready for the gig, when he realized he hadn’t had the chance to invite Keith.

Looking back at his week, he and Keith had barely seem each other.

On mornings, they were both too sleepy to talk, and their interactions resumed to eating breakfast in silence. Lance spend the mornings at class, but he was back at the dorm for some afternoon studying. Keith usually arrived around sunset and they had dinner together, but this week Keith only got there when Lance was already in bed. At first he thought Keith was just having busy days, but the one time they met at the cafeteria, Keith only minded him a “Hey” and walked quickly to sit by himself.

Lance gave himself a moment to be shocked. Then had another moment to be unsurprised - it took Keith long enough to realize that Lance wasn’t the most pleasant company to keep around. But he couldn’t think of another reason to why he’d start acting this way so suddenly other than what happened Saturday night.

Then he got mad, because wasn’t Keith the one who told him to act as if nothing had happened?

Lance fished his phone from his hoodie’s pocket and looked for Mullet on his contact list. 

Keith picked up on the third ring, “Hey.”

“Where the heck are you?” Lance asked, walking on circles around the room.

“Huh, I’m... at the library.”

“The library is closed right now. Find a better excuse.”

Silence.

“Why are you avoiding me the whole week?” he continued.

“I’m not… Avoiding you,” Keith said, “We live in the same room, I see you every day.”

“Yeah, but,” Lance didn’t have a good answer to that. “Okay, since you’re not avoiding me or anything, come hang out today. Me and the gang are going to a gig.”

“I’m outside campus.”

“Well, not my business. You have a bike, don’t you? Come pick me up.  _ Unless _ , you want to admit you  _ are _ avoiding me.”

Lance could almost picture Keith’s brain going all:  _ how dare he _ . He smirked at the satisfactory image that he was making Keith suffer.

“It will take me at least thirty minutes to get there.” Keith said, at last.

“I’ll wait.”

He shut the call and wrote a text to Hunk.

[ L: gonna b late waiting for mullet ]

[ H: ‘kay. not everyone’s here yet. relax. ^^ ]

Lance sat on the couch and turned on the TV.


End file.
